Roof construction for freight carrying land vehicles

ABSTRACT

A roof construction primarily intended for boxcars of the all door type wherein the roof is secured to and supported solely by the bulkheads at the ends of the car and must in turn provide lateral support for the doors which constitute the sides of the car. The roof construction utilizes a single girder extending between the bulkheads and anchored thereto and which is connected to side plates, by which the doors are laterally supported and guided, by roof rafters which extend between the top flange of the girder and the side plates, and angularly disposed lateral roof ties, which extend between and are secured to a bottom flange of the girder and said side plates. Roof sheets are welded directly to the top flange of the girder and to the side plates and thus become a part of the top flange of the girder. By this construction, the weight of the roof may be held to a minimum without sacrificing strength necessary to control deflection, so that the side doors and movable bulkheads, if utilized, will operate properly with suitable vertical operating clearance, without subtracting from the amount of lading which may be placed in the car, and so as to provide the lowest possible center of gravity of the car from the rails.

United States Patent [191 Harter et al.

1 1 ROOF CONSTRUCTION FOR FREIGHT CARRYING LAND VEHICLES [75] inventors: Lynn J. Harter, Buford; Morris Warshal, Chamblee, both of Ga.

[73] Assignee: Southern Iron & Equipment Company, Chamblee, Ga.

22 Filed: Aug. 23, 1973 21 Appl. No.: 391,031

[52] US. Cl 105/404, 52/45, 52/697, 105/377 [5|] Int. Cl B61d 17/12 [58] Field of Search 105/378, 377, 404; 52/45, 52/690, 697, 47, 54

Primary Examiner-M. Henson Wood, .lr. Assistant Examiner-Richard A. Bertsch Attorney, Agent, or Firm-John N. Randolph June 28, 1974 [57] ABSTRACT A roof construction primarily intended for boxcars of the all door type wherein the roof is secured to and supported solely by the bulkheads at the ends of the. car and must in turn provide lateral support for the doors which constitute the sides of the car. The roof construction utilizes a single girder extending between the bulkheads and anchored thereto and which is connected to side plates, by which the doors are laterally supported and guided, by roof rafters which extend between the top flange of the girder and the side plates, and angularly disposed lateral roof ties, which extend between and are secured to a bottom flange of the girder and said side plates. Roof sheets are welded directly to the top flange of the girder and to the side plates and thus become a part of the top flange of the girder. By this construction, the weight of the roof may be held to a minimum without sacrificing strength necessary to control deflection, so that the side doors and movable bulkheads, if utilized, will operate properly with suitable vertical operating clearance, without subtracting from the amount of lading which may be placed in the car, and so as to provide the lowest possible center of gravity of the car from the rails.

8 Claims, 16 Drawing Figures PATENTEU 2 8 i974 SHEET 2 BF 5 PATENTED JUN 2 8 I974 SHEET I 3 BF 5 PATENTEDJUNZB m4 SHEET [1F 5 ROOF CONSTRUCTION FOR FREIGHT CARRYING LAND VEHICLES SUMMARY It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a unique roof construction primarily adapted for boxcars of the all door type which is extremely light in weight, economical to manufacture, yet of adequate strength to provide lateral support for the doors and 1 Still another object of the invention is to provide a roof construction having a single longitudinal girder anchored to the end bulkheads for reinforcing the bulkheads when subject to impact loads, which includes a light weight web and a minimum number of vertical stiffeners.

Another object of the invention is to provide a roof construction having angularly disposed lateral roof ties which extend obliquely between the center roof girder and the side plates, thereby creating an extremely stable and rigid lateral condition for the roof.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter become more fully apparent from the following description of the drawings, illustrating a presently preferred embodiment thereof, and wherein:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an all door boxcar equipped with our improved roof construction;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary top plan view, partly broken away;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view, partly in side elevation, taken substantially along the line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross sectional view of the roof construction, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 44 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse sectional view, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 55 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 6--6 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse sectional view, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 77 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged freagmentary horizontal sectional view, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 88 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary bottom plan view, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 99 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged end elevational view, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 10-10 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged end elevational view looking toward the other side of one bulkhead;

FIG. 12 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line l2l2 of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal sectional view, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 13-13 of FIG. 11;

FIG. 14 is a fragmentary longitudinal vertical sectional view, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 14-14 of FIG. 11;

FIGS. 15 and 16 are fragmentary longitudinal vertical sectional views, taken substantially along planes as indicated by the lines 15-15 and 16-l6 of FIG. 11.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring more specifically to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates a boxcar of the all door type, designated generally 20, including an underframe, designated generally 21, which supports a floor or deck 22 and which includes side sills 23 extending between bulkheads 24 which are fixed to and rise from the ends of said underframe 21 and which constitute the ends of the boxcar 20. The roof structure 25, comprising the invention, extends between and is anchored at its ends to the bulkheads 24 and is supported solely thereby.

The roof construction 25, as best illustrated in FIGS.

2 to 10, includes a medially disposed girder 26 having top and bottom flanges 27 and 28, respectively, connected by a web 29 which is secured at its top and bottom edges to the adjacent sides of the flanges 27 and 28, respectively, and substantially midway of their side edges. A relatively few upright stiffeners 30 are secured to at least one side of the lightweight web 29, FIGS. 2 and 4, and extend between the flanges 27 and 28 to reinforce the girder. The stiffeners 30 are preferably of angular cross section. Anchoring members 31, preferably of angular cross section, are secured to the underside of the top flange 27, on opposite sides of the web 29, to assist in securing the inner ends of roof rafters 32 to the flange 27, said rafters being anchored to the undersides of the flange 27 and to said members 31 and being inclined downwardly and outwardly therefrom. The outer ends of the roof rafters 32 are secured to upper portions of side plates 33 which constitute the longitudinal sides of the roof 25. Said side plates each have an outtumed outwardly and downwardly sloping top flange 34 which terminates in a downturned edge portion 35. Each side plate 33 has an outwardly extending bottom flange 36 terminating in a downturned edge portion 37.

As seen in FIGS. 2, 5 and 6, gusset members 38 are secured to and extend inwardly from the side plates 33 above and spaced from the bottom flanges 36 and substantially below the top flanges 34. Said gussets 38 are disposed in longitudinally spaced relation to one another and are inclined downwardly and inwardly. The outer ends of a pair of lateral roof ties 39 are disposed on and secured to the upper sides of allbut end gussets 38. Said roof ties 39 are inclined downwardly and inwardly and are secured at their inner ends to the upper side of the bottom flange 28 on opposite sides of the web 29. The roof ties 39 are obliquely disposed relative to the girder 26 and side plates 33, as best seen in FIG. 2. Said roof ties and the rafters 32 each comprises a bar of angular cross section.

The roof 25 additionally includes roof sheets 40 the inner ends of which are secured to the upper sides of the top flange 27 and the outer ends of which are secured to the upper sides of the flanges 34, as by welding, so that said roof sheets 40, in effect, constitute a part of the top flange of the girder 26. Thus, for all practical purposes, the roof 25 becomes, in cross section, a very deep truss with the side plates 33 as the flanges or chords and the ties 39 as the diagonals. Accordingly, the stability of the side plates is thereby substantially enhanced for laterally supporting the doors 4], FIG. 1, and for vertically and laterally supporting movable bulkheads, not shown, when utilized.

Referring to FIGS. 11 to 16, the underframe 21 includes in addition to the side sills 23, a pair of spaced apart centrally disposed center sill webs 42 which extends from end-to-end of the car 20, and two pairs of channels 43, which are located on opposite sides of the center sill webs 42 and between said center sill webs 42 and the side sills 23. The members 23, 42 and 43 support the floor 22 which is composed of transversely extending flooring boards 45, side portions of which are supported by the side sills 23.

The bulkheads 24 rest upon and are supported by the end portions of the underframe 21 and include centrally disposed upright channel members 46 which rest upon end portions of the center sill top cover plate 44 and which are anchored thereto by the plates 47 and 48. The bulkheads 24 are also anchored to the underframe 21 by gussets 49 which are secured to the members 43 and to l-shaped uprights 50 of the bulkheads, which combine with the uprights 46 to provide coplanar surfaces against which are secured plates 51 covering and constituting the inner faces of the bulkheads 24 and forming end walls of the enclosure defined by the car 20.

Upright corner posts 52 define the ends of the bulkheads 24 and are anchored to the side plates 33 by gusset assemblies 53. The ends of the bottom flange 28 of the girder 26 are supported on and secured to plates 54 which in turn rest upon and are secured to the upper ends of the center uprights 46, for combining with the corner uprights 52 and gussets 53 for anchoring the ends of the roof to the bulkheads 24.

As shown in FIGS. 4, and 6, ceiling tracks for movable bulkheads 55 are supported by plates 56. The plates 56 additionally function to stiffen the webs of the side plates 33 and resist twisting loads to which the ceiling track 55 is subjected, and to transfer shear loads in its action as a web of the side plate beam. The tracks 55, in addition to their primary function of providing a track and lock for movable bulkheads, not shown, additionally function as an integral part of the roof structure, for increasing its stiffness and its ability to carry additional loads. In FIG. 5, one of the inner door guides and retainers 57 is shown, in which the upper door roltrack and also transfers shear loads between the ceiling track and side plate 33. The two weather guards 59 are shown in FIG. 2. These guards prevent accumulation of ,water and/or snow or ice at the top door ceiling gasket,

not shown, which is located directly beneath the weather guard. The weather guards also add to the structural strength of the side plates 33.

Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may be resorted to, without departing from the function or scope of the invention.

We claim as our invention:

1. A freight carrying land vehicle, such as a boxcar of the all door type, including an underframe, stationary bulkheads supported by and rising from the ends of the underframe, a roof extending between and supported only at its ends by upper portions of said bulkheads, and sets of longitudinally movable doors guided longitudinally and supported laterally by side portions of the roof and constituting the side walls of the car; said roof including a girder extending between said bulkheads, said girder having end portions anchored to the bulkheads for supporting the roof thereon, said girder including a top flange, a bottom flange and a web extending between and secured to the top and bottom flanges, roof rafters having adjacent ends secured to the underside of the top flange on opposite sides of the web and extending outwardly and downwardly therefrom, roof side plates secured to the outer ends of said rafters and supported thereby and constituting said sides of the roof, roof ties secured to the upper side of the bottom flange on opposite sides of the web and extending outwardly and upwardly therefrom, means anchoring the outer ends of said roof ties to said side plates, below the level of the outer ends of said roof rafters, and roofing sheets supported by said roof rafters and partially overlapping the upper side of said top flange and top portions of said side plates.

2. A vehicle as in claim 1, said roof ties being disposed at oblique angles relative to the girder and side plates.

3. A vehicle as in claim 1, said side plates having outwardly extending downwardly sloping top flanges, and said roof sheets being secured to said top flanges of the side plates and the top flanges of the girder.

4. A vehicle as in claim 3, said roof ties being disposed at oblique angles to the girder and side plates to combine with said girder, side plates, roof rafters and roof plates to provide a roof constituting a deep truss with said side plates constituting flanges or chords and the roof ties and roof rafters forming the diagonals thereof.

5. A vehicle as in claim 1, said means securing the outer ends of the roof ties to the side plates comprising plate members secured to and extending inwardly from the side plates and disposed at an incline downwardly and inwardly 6. A vehicle as in claim 1, said roof rafters and roof ties each comprising a bar of angular cross section.

7. A vehicle as in claim 1, said top and bottom girder flanges being of substantial width, said roof sheets overlapping side edge portions only of the top flange whereby part of said top flange constitutes a part of the top surface of the roof.

8. A vehicle as in claim 1, said web being of light weight construction, and vertical stiffeners attached to at least one side of the web. 

1. A freight carrying land vehicle, such as a boxcar of the all door type, including an underframe, stationary bulkheads supported by and rising from the ends of the underframe, a roof extending between and supported only at its ends by upper portions of said bulkheads, and sEts of longitudinally movable doors guided longitudinally and supported laterally by side portions of the roof and constituting the side walls of the car; said roof including a girder extending between said bulkheads, said girder having end portions anchored to the bulkheads for supporting the roof thereon, said girder including a top flange, a bottom flange and a web extending between and secured to the top and bottom flanges, roof rafters having adjacent ends secured to the underside of the top flange on opposite sides of the web and extending outwardly and downwardly therefrom, roof side plates secured to the outer ends of said rafters and supported thereby and constituting said sides of the roof, roof ties secured to the upper side of the bottom flange on opposite sides of the web and extending outwardly and upwardly therefrom, means anchoring the outer ends of said roof ties to said side plates, below the level of the outer ends of said roof rafters, and roofing sheets supported by said roof rafters and partially overlapping the upper side of said top flange and top portions of said side plates.
 2. A vehicle as in claim 1, said roof ties being disposed at oblique angles relative to the girder and side plates.
 3. A vehicle as in claim 1, said side plates having outwardly extending downwardly sloping top flanges, and said roof sheets being secured to said top flanges of the side plates and the top flanges of the girder.
 4. A vehicle as in claim 3, said roof ties being disposed at oblique angles to the girder and side plates to combine with said girder, side plates, roof rafters and roof plates to provide a roof constituting a deep truss with said side plates constituting flanges or chords and the roof ties and roof rafters forming the diagonals thereof.
 5. A vehicle as in claim 1, said means securing the outer ends of the roof ties to the side plates comprising plate members secured to and extending inwardly from the side plates and disposed at an incline downwardly and inwardly
 6. A vehicle as in claim 1, said roof rafters and roof ties each comprising a bar of angular cross section.
 7. A vehicle as in claim 1, said top and bottom girder flanges being of substantial width, said roof sheets overlapping side edge portions only of the top flange whereby part of said top flange constitutes a part of the top surface of the roof.
 8. A vehicle as in claim 1, said web being of light weight construction, and vertical stiffeners attached to at least one side of the web. 